


I'm not going home alone ('cause I don't do too well on my own)

by idioticfangirl



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Day At The Beach, Erik is a Sweetheart, Family, M/M, Superparents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-23 02:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8309578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idioticfangirl/pseuds/idioticfangirl
Summary: Tensions are high.  Every five minutes the X-Men seem to be either at war or doing their damn best to break everything in the Xavier Mansion, so Charles and Erik decide to let kids be kids and go for a family day out at the beach.





	

It all started when Sean found an old, bound, photobook, a relic of the Xavier household that Charles must have hidden long ago, for none of them had seen it before. The fact that Charles must have hidden it for a reason, and that this was prying into a part of his life that he had every right to keep from them, was known, but eventually curiosity overcame any attempt at politeness, and they were soon crowded around the book, alternatively laughing and enjoying the many pictures of Charles as he grew from a chubby, smiling baby to a chubby, smiling boy. 

Engrossed as they were in this, no-one noticed Charles entering the room. He stood for a second, leaning on the doorframe and listening to their thoughts, until Erik walked up behind him. Charles jumped at the sudden hand on his shoulder, though he should have heard the man coming, and turned to Erik.

"What is it?" Erik asked, but one glance at the children in the room rendered the question pointless. He strode purposefully into the room, the sound of his footsteps alerting the kids to his presence, and the second that they saw his face all interest and amusement vanished from their minds, replaced by fear as they dropped the book and immediately scattered. 

Hesitantly, Charles entered the room after him. Erik was kneeling, eyes fixed on the book that had fallen open onto the floor as though even looking at it would cause it to spontaneously combust. He tore his eyes off it as Charles approached, reaching out to close it, but Charles stayed his hand.

"It's been a long time since I even thought about this," he whispered hoarsely, taking in the pictures almost as if he were looking at the memories of a completely different person, "but I can't blame them for being curious." Erik was still staring at the spread of pictures, and Charles could see a mix of protectiveness and intrigue in his thoughts that Charles couldn't bring himself to ignore. "Go on then," he said, still softly, "take a look."

Erik sat on the sofa beside him and flicked through the pages. In stark contrast to earlier, the room was filled with a heavy silence, the knowledge that this was a great act of trust weighing in his mind as he watched Charles grow before his eyes.

There was on picture that piqued his interest more than any other, and he eyes lingered on it for long enough that Charles picked up on it even without using his powers, which he attempted not to use amongst those he trusted anyway. The background of the photograph was a picturesque beach with beautiful golden sand and a crystal blue sea, and the foreground was Charles standing, smiling happily in the direction just to the left of the camera. But what caught Erik's eye was the fact that this was a pose of Charles' that he had seen before, in a family photo outside of an old, important-looking building.

"I cut it out and stuck it on a postcard," Charles explained without prompting, "I kept asking mother and father if we could go to the beach, and they always said they were too busy, so I made it myself." He sighed wistfully. "I still haven't seen the ocean." He gazed off into the distance for a second before seemingly shaking himself, pulling back to the present. "What about you, have you ever been to the beach?"

For a moment, Erik's eyes turned to the first (and last) time he had seen the sea, remembering the vicious battle that had taken place there before he succeeded in striking the ex-Nazi down. He thought of the violent way the waves had crashed onto the shore, seeming to be trying to get him. He schooled his face into a neutral expression and shrugged, even though the pretense was useless in front of Charles. "Never really had time for sightseeing." Then another look at Charles' face, an expression of wonder still on it as he absentmindedly stroked the postcard with a finger, "We should take the kids."

"To the beach?"

"Don't you think we could use it?" Erik didn't mention the real reason he was suggesting this, the way his heart ached whenever Charles mentioned his childhood because this was Charles, he deserved all the love in the world and goddamn it, if his parents weren't going to give it to him then Erik could more than make up for that.

"I'm sure they'd love it," Charles smiled gently. And so would I his mind whispered inside Erik's head, the familiar warm feeling of comfort causing Erik to smile back.

 

When they made their way into the kitchen, following the sounds of crashes and swearing that could only mean Hank and Alex were attempting to cook, they found all of the kids there, Raven yelling orders as Sean manned the stove and Alex whisked with a face so furious Erik was almost afraid for the eggs. Hank, the only one with any form of culinary prowess (meaning he didn't always set everything on fire), was standing back, watching the scene with look of bleak despair on his face.

Erik coughed, and the group jumped guiltily, Alex almost spilling the eggs as he did so. All Charles had to do was raise an eyebrow, and they were interrupting each other in their haste to explain.

"We felt bad -"

"-really bad so -"

"we thought we'd try and cook -"

"but it isn't going well."

"We're still sorry," Sean finished plaintively.

"Children," and Charles was smiling, looking just like the image of the father that he should have had, forgiving and understanding and kind as he stood there and thanked them for their work in cooking, although really it was destroying the kitchen, "we think we should go on an outing."

"Who do we have to stop?" Alex asked immediately, moving away from the eggs and protectively in front of Hank as though the guy wasn't smart enough to save himself, and Charles felt a sinking feeling as he realised that 'going out' was now synonymous to 'fight'.

"No-one!" He replied brightly, "We're going to the beach!"

There was a second of silence as the news sunk in, followed by a solid minute of riotous uproar. Erik covered his ears, glowering at the floor as he fought to bite back a smile at the happiness expressed by the young X-Men at the idea of a family outing.

God, I hate the beach he thought, and looked up to see Charles smiling goofily, nodding at him. 

 

Erik made it abundantly clear that he was going to sleep through the entire charade. He laid out a towel, fussed over the fact that it had been down not five seconds before the colour could hardly be seen under sand, and stretched out, checking every five seconds that every part of his body was still shaded by the parasol in case he got even a glimmer of a tan.

Despite the typical cold weather, the first thing everyone did was running into the sea, screaming as the cold water reached first their ankles, then their waists, and finally their necks. Hank was the first to go completely under, dunked by Alex who immediately leaped back when seaweed touched his foot, and which led to him spending the next twenty minutes trying to avoid the seaweed that Hank was throwing at him. Sean went under next, completely by accident as he discovered a large drop in depth, but he emerged laughing and warning Raven, who took his advice to watch out by pointedly stepping over the edge and promptly disappearing herself. Charles, protective of his hair and his protegees, was the last to go under, eventually pulled down by Raven who even went to the trouble of opening her eyes in the stinging salt to ensure that he was completely under.

They left Hank and Alex still frolicking in the waves as Sean persuaded Charles and Mystique to play rounders with him, a game which Raven took too seriously and Charles didn't take seriously enough, leading to arguments over whether or not he could have caught that which inevitably ended with everyone returning to the sea to splash each other. As the tide went out, Hank and Alex joined in the game. 

Tired out, the team flopped down next to Erik, enjoying the last lingering rays of the sun, however weak. When Erik awoke, confused at the lack of screams, he saw the team surrounding him, snoring peacefully, and had a stroke of genius. Gripping Alex by the ankles, he slowly and carefully pulled him down the beach, leaving him, still asleep, in the waves, and laughing maniacally as his screams at the shock of cold jolted everyone else awake too.

Before the day was over, Erik was persuaded (mainly by Charles) that it didn't count as a beach day unless everyone got an ice cream, so they made their way to the small village to purchase an ice cream each and some sweets for the way back.

In the car, as they all dozed peacefully, Sean murmured, "We should do this again."

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, it was Erik that replied, "We definitely will."


End file.
